Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Allegro Non Troppo - 1976

"Allegro Non Troppo" is a sort of a take-off on the classic Disney film, "Fantasia." Like the original, it's largely dialogue-free animation set to pieces of classical music (with black and white live-action sequences between the seven segments). And not surprisingly, it's a winning formula. There are several jokes in the live-action segments that directly allude to where this film's roots lie, which are pretty funny. And while this is an Italian film, the animation doesn't have any dialogue, and the live-action sequences are very visual in their humor, so you could probably wouldn't lose much if you weren't paying attention to the subtitles.

I'd like to say this is a dirty hippie version of "Fantasia," but that's not exactly dead on. Granted, there are naked women, a satyr, and some reasonably adult content even beyond that, but it would be more accurate to say that it's a product of the 70's. There's no drug content in the film, but it's so heavily psychedelic that the intent is clear. The animation style is also clearly from the 1970's (which isn't necessarily a bad thing - trippy watercolor artwork is more appealing eye-candy to me than anything that has originated from pixels).

This is a really tough film to talk about, chiefly because the bulk of it's appeal lies in it's visuals. What it is not is a straight narrative film. It's just an experience, and a good one at that. In particular, the "Bolero" sequence is fantastic (it's turned into an evolutionary narrative, complete with color-shifting dinosaurs marching to the beat of the song). Maybe that's the right word for the film: fantastic.